For the Record
by luckyaikou
Summary: Ryou is setting the record straight on his life with Bakura. Shounenai.


A/N:Tendershipping nonsense in Ryou's POV. May not completely conform to plot.

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!

I don't know what exactly made me decide to write this down. Maybe it's how unfairly people see Bakura, like he's some blood-crazy sadist from ancient times here to corrupt the innocent and kill the weak. Or maybe it's how people treat me, like an innocent, weak, naïve child. Either way, I'm here to set the record straight. From the beginning.

When my mom and my sister died, my father thought I was an irrelevant factor. He enrolled me into year-round charter schools and left to go live on-site on his archeological digs. He used to call me from time to time, drunk, crying about how much I remind him of his dead wife. I don't pick up anymore and just accept the checks he sends me and the occasional birthday present when he remembers.

That's how all this started, in fact, after I was already in Japan. I got a birthday present from him, with a note that read, "Happy birthday son. I saw this and felt you should have it. –Dad"

I was kind of pissed about it at first. How could he feel I needed such an effeminate necklace? I laugh about it now, thinking how my poor sap of a father fell prey to Bakura's wishes.

I put it on originally just for kicks, but then I couldn't take it off. Part of me wouldn't. I remember getting really tired, and falling asleep on the couch. Bakura was very careful at the beginning, only taking over my body when I slept so I didn't realize what was happening. I would wake up sore or with dirt all over myself and feeling like I hadn't slept, but I was not suspicious of the true cause.

Then, I woke up one night. I didn't know why that night, but I had woken up, screaming, like from a nightmare. I didn't recognize the room, but I recognized the things in it. Books, some of my games, pictures of my family, and letters I had written but never sent. I ran around, trying to get out, finding the only door to be locked. I felt like I was alone for ages, but it only took Bakura a few minutes to get there.

He came in slowly, watching me. I was yelling, telling him he'd pay for kidnapping me, threatening the man who looked just like me but with more danger in his russet eyes.

"Calm down, yadonushi," Bakura sighed. "Do you not recognize your own memories? Why would a kidnapper go through the trouble of gathering your most precious personal effects?"

"What did you call me? Landlord? Who are you?"

He walked around the room, looking around. The dark gave him an even more terrifying edge to his creative take on our light skin and white hair. He didn't answer either of my questions. "You interrupted my work. I was halfway out of Domino when you started screaming. I had to run all the way back to your apartment so I could see what you were going on about."

"What work? And this isn't my apartment!"

I feel like I took it pretty well, considering the conversation topic. He told me everything that night, being a spirit from Egypt, taking over my body, and fighting a 5000 year old revenge. He wasn't completely honest I guess; I didn't find out about Kul Elna until way later in our time together.

I wouldn't say our relationship was perfect, but it wasn't what it is right from the start. He didn't quite get how to interact with a host, and I didn't know how to make him happy without constantly tracking down Atem. But when he started taking my friends' souls and putting them into figurines, I stood up to him. It was scary, sure, but one of the most important details I can convey is that Bakura has never put his hands on me. Ethereal or otherwise; he's gotten mad and stormed out, but he's never hurt me. He deserves credit for that.

Then I found I got more out of him with the more I put in. So by supporting him in his ideals, he started asking about my life. By letting him use my body more than just at night, he started asking permission and letting me see while he was out. And when he'd make stupid decisions, he'd always protect me.

That's probably how I fell for him. He was the guardian who would stay by my side no matter what. No one else in my life ever stayed. Even when Honda threw the ring away, even when Marik tried to send him to the shadow realm, Bakura always came back for me.

Like I said, our romance wasn't perfect, but we were both as unsure and inexperienced as the other, and as willing to try to make it work. He isn't abusive, he never has been. We're two pieces of the same soul, and that was something that was so right in itself that everything else seemed to fall into place. It wasn't something that either of us worked for it. It just happened. We just loved each other. And we were rewarded when all the yamis got their own bodies.

It isn't easy. He still has quite the temper. But so do I, and together we have all we will ever need. And that's all I want. Bakura and Marik still find themselves in ridiculous situations when Malik and I aren't around to keep them under control. But between the three hikaris, I'm sure we'll find a way to make them fit in to society.

-Ryou

P.S. For the record, no, Bakura doesn't always top.


End file.
